This action research study explored if changes in the reading curriculum, specifically implementation of critical literacy approaches that acknowledge bicultural students, increase student learning as perceived by teachers and students in a Catholic elementary school, where students have been chronically performing at the lowest level in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. By using critical pedagogy (Darder, 1991; Freire, 1970; Giroux, 1983; Macedo, 1994; McLaren, 1988) as a theoretical framework, this action research project investigated the effective elements of critical literacy (Cadiero-Kaplan, 2004; Shor & Pari, 1999) that promote academic learning for Latino middle school students in a low-income Catholic elementary school. This study explored the approaches and perceptions of novel studies, as a form of literacy, to increase student learning in reading at a low-income, urban, Catholic elementary school. Classroom observations, teacher interviews, teacher lesson plans, student work, student focus groups, and a teacher focus group validated the findings that critical literacy approaches positively impacted student learning in reading. Changes in the school and reading curriculum, specifically the implementation of literacy approaches that acknowledge bicultural students, increased learning for Latino middle school students as perceived by teachers and students in this low-income, urban Catholic elementary school. Teachers implemented effective elements of critical literacy, including direct vocabulary and grammar instruction, analysis of literary tools, incorporation of Spanish, varying forms of assessment, and inclusion of student voice, through the use of novel studies. The school and classroom environments further promoted academic learning for Latino middle school students with high expectations, strict humor, and predictability where teachers, who viewed their students with promising futures, taught as a form of service. Although the school and teachers incorporated literacy practices, teachers fell short of practicing critical literacy because they failed to examine the underlying social ramifications of hegemonic forces.

Syftet med föreliggande studie är att belysa hur pedagoger tänker kring och arbetar med genus på fritidshemmet. Frågeställningarna behandlar även hur genusordningen på skolan och skolkulturen påverkar verksamheten ur ett genusperspektiv. Som empirisk grund för arbetet har vi gjort fyra kvalitativa intervjuer med pedagoger som arbetar på fritidshemmet på två mångkulturella skolor i Stockholm samt på en svensk skola i ett spansktalande land. Med hjälp av genusteoretiska perspektiv visar resultatet av studien att pedagoger på fritidshemmet tänker och arbetar olika med genus i verksamheten. Vi har sett exempel på att pedagoger bidrar till upprätthållandet av stereotypa könsdefinitioner genom att till exempel tala om flickor och pojkar som två olika enhetliga grupper. I resultatet har vi även sett hur pedagoger kan möjliggöra elevers identitetsskapande genom att inte göra skillnad på elever grundat på föreställningar om kön. Det har också framgått att det råder olika kulturer på varje skola och gemensamt för alla tre skolor i undersökningen är att skolkulturen påverkar hur pedagoger tänker kring och arbetar med genus i verksamheten. / The purpose of this study is to illustrate how educators relate to gender in after-school programs and how school culture affects educators and students. Our questions also deal with gender order in school and how cultural factors affect the gender perspective in after-school programs. As empirical basis for our study we did four qualitative interviews with educators at two multicultural schools in Stockholm and one Swedish school in a Spanish-speaking country. The results of the study show that the educators at the after-school programs relate different to the students in school from a gender perspective. We have seen examples of educators maintaining stereotyped gender definitions by talking about girls and boys as two different uniform groups. The results also show how educators can create possibilities for students to find different identities by not making any differences between the students based on gender. It has also emerged that there are different cultures at each school and common to all three schools in the survey is that the school culture affects how educators think about and work with gender.

<p>This interdisciplinary study shows that because of the changing demands from consumer caused by the growing influence of the internet and file-sharing the Nordic Gaming industry is going through an economic evolution. This result was derived by using qualitative questionnaires directed towards Gaming industry decision makers in the Nordic region combined with critical discourse analysis based on the methodology of Norman Fairclough, using theories of different characters to understand the field.</p><p>In this thesis the case of the Nordic Gaming industry is used to assert that because of changing demands of consumers and an ever growing piracy movement, societies are evolving into transitional economies where it is increasingly harder to sell products consisting of pure information.</p>

This interdisciplinary study shows that because of the changing demands from consumer caused by the growing influence of the internet and file-sharing the Nordic Gaming industry is going through an economic evolution. This result was derived by using qualitative questionnaires directed towards Gaming industry decision makers in the Nordic region combined with critical discourse analysis based on the methodology of Norman Fairclough, using theories of different characters to understand the field. In this thesis the case of the Nordic Gaming industry is used to assert that because of changing demands of consumers and an ever growing piracy movement, societies are evolving into transitional economies where it is increasingly harder to sell products consisting of pure information.